Jan. 14, 1953: Federal Express Leaves for Washington … and Crash

1953: A train leaves Boston packed with people heading to Washington, D.C., for the presidential inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower. It suffers a catastrophic brake failure and will crash through a railroad terminal at its destination the next morning.

Thanks to the quick thinking and action of the engineers, there were only 87 injuries and zero fatalities.

Trouble started in Rhode Island when one of the train’s air brakes began to stick — it was a malfunction of the angle cock that controlled the air brake connection between the third and fourth car. Crew members stopped the train and fixed the problem (or so they thought), and the train proceeded on its way.

Stopping again in New Haven, Connecticut, the diesel engine was replaced with an electric locomotive. Additionally, three extra passenger cars were added. Most importantly, the crew was changed.

Was there any mention of the faulty brakes? Nope. That communication breakdown set into motion the crash that would occur several hours later.

The brakes on the train did operate flawlessly between New Haven and New York City. There was another stop in Gotham where the engine was changed again, along with the lead engineer. The train went on to Philadelphia; Wilmington, Delaware; and Baltimore without incident. The brakes were applied some 14 times during this journey and showed no sign of anything being faulty.

It wasn’t until the train was barreling along at some 80 mph and was within 2 miles of Washington that a massive disaster started brewing. Lead engineer Harry Brower attempted to apply the brakes but received no response. Brower then tried the emergency brake. This should have brought the speeding locomotive to a screeching halt. It didn’t.

With the train hurtling out of control towards a dead-end track at the terminal, Brower calmly became a dervish of action. He repeatedly blew the train’s horn, warning bystanders from the track, and ordered passengers to brace for impact.

Simultaneously, the Washington, D.C., tower operator realized there was a runaway train and immediately cleared people from the concourse beyond the end of the track.

The train crashed into Union Station at 8:38 a.m. on Jan. 15. First torpedoing through a wall, it careened through the stationmaster’s office (just beyond the end of the track), destroyed a newsstand, and hurtled across the station’s concourse until the floor collapsed, sending the engine and two cars plummeting into a basement baggage room.

Due in no small part to the quick, decisive actions of the Washington crew and the railroaders, there were only 87 injuries, and no one was killed.

It was eventually determined that when the train stopped in Rhode Island with the initial brake problem, there had been another undetected brake failure on another car, which was not actually fixed.

Still, you can’t keep a good inauguration down. By 7:00 am the following day, the majority of the train wreckage had been removed from the station. With the locomotive still in the basement, workers built a temporary floor for the concourse, which reopened three days after the accident.

The extremely heavy locomotive was not removed until after Ike was sworn in. The sensational accident would eventually become the inspiration for the ending of the 1976 film, Silver Streak.